One of the Top Things I Love About Our Interns: \”I believe that perspective and point of view matter.\”

Every intern at UniversalGiving as part of the hiring process and submits a writing sample.

That sounds simple, and yet it is so profound. Some interns post papers from school; I learn about a new international issue. Some submit creative writing.  Others provide a link to a blog. Each writing sample I read thoroughly, and I learn from them and about them.  

Below is one of my favorites from an intern this summer. This was a kind, good-hearted person who is already making a difference at her college. It\’s heartfelt, true, real, and encouraging. She believes everyone\’s story is important. So let\’s read her profound words below, and cherish what she has to offer. I think she\’s courageous.

I am an average women, Caucasian, blue eyes, blond hair, and of average height and weight. This is not the story, simply where the story is contained. From the beginning, my pen has been scratching at these never ending pages. Pages that have been stained with love, divorce, abuse, laughter, depression, anger, and kindness. 

My chapters have written of a fearless single mother who would do anything for her children, an estranged brother who over the years became a best friend, and a father who never knew how to be around. Some characters will stay through the end where others have made only guest appearances. The perfection of life is that our stories are not the same. 

Our skin, hair, or eyes may be similar. Some of my own words may have been written in your pages but it will never be the same entire novel, never the same chapters. I believe that this is what makes life, I believe that perspective and point of view matter. In life we must be comfortable in our own story so that we may accept others\’ stories as real and true to them. 

My beliefs are my beliefs. They may be similar to yours but they may not be. We were made for our own story not someone else’s. We were made to tell of our own heart, put into our lives and the lives of others for reasons we may never realize until we skim those words again. 

My book has been bruised and beaten, sometimes put on pedestal, moved from place to place… Some have applauded it while others walked away from it. My story would be nothing without the others who have taken the pen for a while, some of the words have been hateful and degrading while others spoke encouragement and love. 

In both moments I learned who I wanted to be and how I wanted to be with others. I learned who and what I wanted to fight for, I learned it was your story that was what I wanted most of all. I wanted your story to stand up and teach people about their own lives so even when it has faded with time it will never be gone for you inspired people to write their own. You made mistakes and you claimed them, you fell down but you always stood back up. Maybe yours has been a song, a poem, a short novel but realize that you have never stopped writing. 

Every moment inked into life, it is your story I believe in, it is your story that matters.